Bombardier's top executive on 1 December reaffirmed the late-2013 delivery target for the CSeries narrowbody airliner, but acknowledged some suppliers are behind schedule.
"We have a lot of partners involved, some of which would be ahead of schedule [and] some of which would be behind schedule, and that's not unusual in such a complex project," Pierre Beaudoin, Bombardier chief executive officer, told analysts on a conference call about third quarter earnings.
But company officials have not backed off plans to deliver the first aircraft of the 110-130-seat, five-abreast airliner within two years.
"At this point I can assure you that the whole team is driving to deliver [the first aircraft] in 2013," Beaudoin said.
Bombardier has long maintained that the programme is still on track despite reports of delays and bottlenecks in the CSeries supply chain.
Beaudoin declined a request by a financial analyst to provide details of the schedule for assembling and flying the first CSeries airframe in 2012.
"We have the experience to deliver this airplane on time," Beaudoin said.
The Canada-based manufacturer also welcomed Embraer's decision to abandon the possibility of launching a competitor to the CSeries, and instead deliver a re-engined version of the Embraer 170/175 and Embraer 190/195 after 2017.
"I think at the beginning of the CSeries people were saying we would get a lot of competition in this category," Beaudoin said. "Now it is quite clear we will have this market alone with the CSeries, which is quite exciting."
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
